Is the Great Wall of China really useful? American professors hit the nail on the head: the Great Wall hurt Europe
Speaking of the greatest achievements of the Qin Dynasty, some people say that it is the Terracotta Warriors, and some people will think that Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms. Of course, this kind of cultural heritage is difficult for foreigners to understand except for Chinese in many cases. This situation is also reasonable, after all, this kind of precipitation has been precipitated with history. So in many cases, foreigners will preconceived that China's greatest miracle is the Great Wall, which was built in thousands of years.
According to the "Records of History", at that time, King Xuan of Qi built the Great Wall from the sea to Jeju along the mountain ridge, which lasted for thousands of miles, just to prevent the invasion of the Chu state.
Of course, this section of the Great Wall was built by various countries at that time for defense, so in history, it was not like the Great Wall we know now, but to defend against nomadic invasions from the north. The great wall that is truly famous in the world was built by Qin Shi Huang after the founding of the country, connecting these great walls together. However, in modern times, many people have begun to question whether the Great Wall has played its role in history.
This problem has troubled many people, and many people believe that the Great Wall in history is only the product of Qin Shi Huang's good and great achievements. But this claim has also been opposed by many people, including an American professor named Barfield. The American professor pointed out in his book that the Great Wall changed the pattern of the world and harmed Europe.
First of all, the author wants to explain that in the Qin Dynasty at that time, the Great Wall was actually several times longer than the part we can see now. But there were no protections in ancient times, so in the long river of history, the truly ancient Great Wall has either changed with the terrain or been renovated.
After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, each dynasty appropriately built the Great Wall, with the Ming Dynasty as the mainstay. What we can see now is almost all the remains of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty. According to high-tech detailed measurements, the total length of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was 8851.8 kilometers, and the earliest Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty is probably several times more than this. However, such a long Great Wall, during the Qing Dynasty, was considered a useless thing for good and great achievements.
In fact, this is understandable. We all know that the Qing Dynasty people crossed the Great Wall and entered Guannei at the beginning. Therefore, in the eyes of these emperors such as Kangxi, the significance of repairing the Great Wall is no longer great. Instead of relying on this defense against foreign enemies, govern the country. It is better to properly stabilize the people's livelihood and straighten out the military, so that we can be more effective.
Emperor Taiji seized the opportunity of the Ming Dynasty's corruption and crossed the Great Wall to take the world that belonged to him. But this is ultimately a minority, and largely only because they succeed. In the thousands of years since the construction of the Great Wall, few nomadic people have successfully crossed the Great Wall. In fact, the role of the Great Wall is greater than we think, and it has even affected the geographical pattern of Europe since then.
We all know what it means to be nomadic, to walk around the prairie of the seasons, to have no fixed shelter, and to take the animals we raise to make a home. There are many advantages to this, but the disadvantages are also great. After all, to a large extent, it is necessary to rely on the sky to eat, and many times it is not enough to eat and wear. Compared to agricultural life, it is very unstable.
Therefore, nomads often use their superb mechanical power to plunder agricultural civilization everywhere, after all, agricultural civilization can run the monk can not run the temple, this land can live people, always can not say give up and give up. Therefore, in the vast plains, how to block these cavalry that came and went freely became a problem for the rulers of successive dynasties. In particular, in ancient times, when horses were to be raised, in that era of low productivity, it was impossible to rely on ordinary agriculture alone. So it was almost impossible to confront the cavalry head-on.
Since the Warring States period, the rulers of various countries have suffered too much and naturally know the way to deal with it, that is, to make these people unable to run in. Of course, at that time, people's attention was focused on the central plains hegemony, and these people did not attach great importance to them, and the specific facilities were not implemented.
But after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang did not think so. As mentioned above, the reason nomads come and go freely is largely dependent on their horses, so just limit their mobility. This is why when we go to see the Great Wall, we can always find that the Great Wall is actually not very high. Because this is not at all used to stop people, but to stop horses. As long as there were no horses, the combat effectiveness of the nomads was greatly reduced, and with the establishment of the beacon tower, the Qin Dynasty was able to gather troops and horses more quickly to resist the enemy.
So after this situation, the labor of the nomadic herders is not proportional to the results obtained. But the meal still has to be eaten, so what to do? Their eyes went farther away.
We all know that in the history of Europe, a group of cavalry suddenly appeared from the east, and these cavalry were invincible along the way, almost hitting the European countries with no ability to fight back. Even Rome, the most powerful, suffered a lot of losses. Therefore, the American professor Barfield pointed out to the point that the "Great Wall" has harmed European countries.
According to the American professor Barfield's paper "Dangerous Frontiers: Nomadic Empires and China", these people are likely to be nomads from the Asian continent, because they have been blocked by the Great Wall in northern China, and have no choice but to move west to ensure their lives. In the land of Europe, because of geographical problems, coupled with the fact that Europe was also a mess at that time, the nomads were like fish.
And the european countries fought their own battles, and there was no way to build the Great Wall. Therefore, these nomadic herders who came and went freely turned Europe upside down. Whether it is the familiar Turks, the Xiongnu, or the famous Genghis Khan in history, they all wielded great power in Europe. Genghis Khan even fell in Europe with a reputation as a whip of God, and was considered to be a man sent down by God.
From this point of view, in fact, the Great Wall of China has played a big role in the world. Although the cost is very large, it also ensures the safety of the people in the Central Plains and largely prevents the nomads from going south. Indirectly, it led to the invasion of Europe, to some extent, so that the Eurasian culture was integrated and spread, and also led to the destruction or occupation of many countries and lands by nomadic peoples.
The demise of these countries also affected, to a large extent, the original development of European history. Therefore, American professors believe that the Great Wall has really changed the pattern of the world in a historical sense.